Kansas.com: Nation and World

Taliban take dozens hostage in Pakistan

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:40 CDT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- The Pakistani Taliban have taken dozens of hostages, including police officers, paramilitary fighters and even state bank officials, and threatened on Friday to begin killing them unless the government released four of their comrades captured last week.

The standoff has grown into one of the most serious recent challenges to the government's resolve to curb the militants' rapid expansion. The threat comes just 10 days before Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani is scheduled to meet President Bush at the White House.

So far, the government has held firm, sending hundreds of soldiers to the area, Hangu, in North-West Frontier Province, to engage in the first real fighting with the militants since the two sides agreed to a new series of peace deals earlier this year.

Haitians pray for food, jobs at waterfall

SAUT D'EAU, Haiti -- Every year, Haitians crowd into the basin of a sacred waterfall to relax and pray for a better future.

Pope apologizes for abuse by clergy

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:40 CDT

SYDNEY, Australia -- Pope Benedict XVI today said he was "deeply sorry" for the sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic clergy in Australia, describing the offenses as evil and a grave betrayal of trust.

"I would like to pause to acknowledge the shame which we have all felt as a result of the sexual abuse of minors by some clergy and religious in this country," Benedict said during an address at a Mass in Sydney.

"I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have endured. I assure them as their pastor that I too share in their suffering," he said.

"Those responsible for these evils must be brought to justice."

Support groups for victims of church abuse in Australia, whose numbers are not known but who activists say are in the thousands, said a papal apology is not enough and demanded the church end what they say is a continuing cover-up of the scale of the problem and stop fighting compensation claims lodged in civil courts.

Pelosi doesn't want vote on drilling

ROB HOTAKAINEN — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:40 CDT

A plan to lift the ban on coastal drilling is stalled on Capitol Hill for one simple reason: A Californian who opposes President Bush's proposal is calling the shots in the House of Representatives.

Despite growing public support for ending the ban, even in California, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she won't allow a vote.

"I have no plans to do so," Pelosi said Thursday.

It's an example of the vast power placed in the office of the speaker, who sets the agenda for the 435-member House. Members can force a vote if enough of them sign a petition, but that's a rarity because it requires rank-and-file Democrats to line up against their boss.

In this case, Pelosi is going against a rising tide of public opinion. Faced with high gasoline prices, 73 percent of Americans now favor offshore drilling, according to a poll conducted by CNN/Opinion Research Corp.

Tiahrt asks Bush to resist EADS lobbying

LES BLUMENTHAL — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:40 CDT

Two congressmen asked President Bush on Friday to resist pressure from three European leaders and ensure that the Pentagon will be evenhanded as it prepares to reopen the competition for a $35 billion Air Force aerial-refueling tanker contract.

"We hope you will reject all outside pressure and ensure a completely fair process," Reps. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., and Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, said in a letter to Bush.

Dicks and Tiahrt said it would be "unconscionable" if the Pentagon awarded the contract to a team composed of Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. rather than Boeing. EADS is the parent company of Airbus, a rival of Boeing for dominance of the commercial airplane market.

The letter came two days after McClatchy reported that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas

Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had personally lobbied Bush on the tanker contract, urging him to support the Northrop-EADS bid.

U.S., Iran to hold talks in Geneva

JONATHAN S. LANDAY — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:40 CDT

The United States and Iran, poised to meet today in Geneva in their first face-to-face talks on Iran's nuclear program, sent more signals Friday that they may be ready to step away from confrontation and begin a grueling process to resolve three decades of hostility.

Until now, the Bush administration had refused to hold direct talks with Iran, except under the precondition that Iran heed U.N. demands to suspend uranium enrichment, a process that can produce the key ingredient for nuclear weapons. Iran, which says it's legally enriching uranium to produce fuel for power-generating reactors, on Friday welcomed the sudden U.S. reversal of policy.

"The new negotiating process (and) the participation of a U.S. diplomat look positive from the outset," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said during a visit to Turkey. "We hope that is reflected in the talks."

He praised President Bush's decision to send Undersecretary of State William Burns, the third most senior American diplomat, to the talks as "a new positive approach."

Mottaki said he also hoped that deals could be reached on direct air links between Iran and the United States and the opening of the first American diplomatic office in Tehran since the sides broke relations after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

McCain to focus on domestic issues

JULIET EILPERIN — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:40 CDT

As Sen. Barack Obama takes a highly publicized trip abroad over the next week, Sen. John McCain plans to highlight his commitment to the nation's domestic challenges in stops across the country.

The Republican presidential candidate emphasized his interest in promoting clean automotive technology at the General Motors technical center in Warren, Mich., on Friday, and he plans to focus on economic issues next week in New England and the Midwest.

"John McCain will be talking directly to hometown Americans about gas prices, job growth and the economy," campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said Friday. "Of course, we expect there'll be an implicit contrast between John McCain's record and an Obama campaign trip designed to compensate for a slim foreign policy record and built around his own political ambitions."

After criticizing Obama for visiting Iraq once and not visiting Afghanistan at all before he announced his travel plans, the McCain campaign has since suggested that the Democrat's trip is purely political.

The presumptive GOP nominee used softer language to describe the tour, making a distinction between Obama visiting Iraq and Afghanistan and stops in Europe that might have the flavor of a political event.

Mexico's drug-sub seizure an example of cooperation

KEVIN G. HALL — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:40 CDT

A tip from the United States led to this week's daring high seas seizure off Mexico's Pacific Coast of a drug-laden semi-submersible submarinelike vessel, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Friday.

Speaking to a small group of U.S. media in Mexico City after spending the morning with Mexican national security officials, Chertoff confirmed that intelligence gathered by the U.S. government led to the seizure of the vessel off the coast of Oaxaca state on Wednesday.

"I praised them and congratulated them for the seizure of the semi-submersible sub," said Chertoff, calling the action "a great example of cooperation, between our ability to share intelligence about the vessel and their skill in fast-roping their marines from helicopters and being able to actually seize the vessel before it was sunk."

The vessel, which looks like a cross between a submarine and a cigarette boat, was towed into the Pacific port of Salinas Cruz on Friday, where authorities removed what they said was 5.8 tons of cocaine. The drugs were wrapped in 257 plastic packages.

Jose Ruiz, a spokesman from the U.S. military's Southern Command in Miami, said at least 40 semi-submersible subs have been spotted by the United States and allies since 2006, mostly hugging the Pacific Coast of Central America or Mexico. The U.S. Coast Guard seized one in November 2006.

Cuban leader tries to increase food production

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:40 CDT

MEXICO CITY -- President Raul Castro continued his rollout of changes in Cuba on Friday with the start of a plan to boost the island's sluggish food production by granting private farmers access to up to 99 acres of unused government land.

Under the new system, private farmers, who have continued to exist under Cuba's socialist system, would have access to the plots for up to a decade, with leases renewable if conditions were met and taxes paid.

Dead baby penguins wash onto Rio beaches

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia are washing up dead on Rio de Janeiro's tropical beaches, rescuers and penguin experts said Friday.

More than 400 penguins, most of them young, have been found dead on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro state over the past two months, according to Eduardo Pimenta, a superintendent for the state coastal protection and environment agency.

Texas OKs Bible class in school

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:40 CDT

AUSTIN -- The Texas State Board of Education gave final approval Friday to establishing Bible classes in public high schools, rejecting calls to draw specific teaching guidelines and warnings that it could lead to constitutional problems in the classroom.

The Legislature passed a law in 2007 allowing Bible courses to be offered as an elective. They are supposed to focus on the history and literature of the Bible without preaching or disparaging any faith.

Judge returns wolf to endangered status

BILLINGS, Mont. --A federal judge has restored endangered species protections for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies, derailing plans by three states to hold public wolf hunts this fall.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy granted a preliminary injunction late Friday restoring the protections for the wolves in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho.

U.S., Iraq agree to set timeline

WARREN P. STROBEL — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:40 CDT

The United States and Iraq have agreed to a "general time horizon" for further reductions of U.S. combat troops in Iraq, the White House said Friday, the first time the Bush administration has agreed to set any kind of timeline for troop withdrawals.

The agreement appears to be a political favor to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, but the White House said it wasn't a reversal of President Bush's long opposition to any fixed schedule for troop reductions, including the veto of bills that included timetables for withdrawal.

But Democrats -- including presumptive presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama -- hailed it as belated recognition of the need to hasten the end of the Iraq war.

Iraqi leaders have been insisting that a U.S.-Iraq security agreement now being negotiated include commitments on the eventual departure of American troops.

The White House statement, issued after Bush and Maliki spoke Thursday, contained no specifics on dates for troop withdrawals or the size of those reductions, and it remains unclear how specific the U.S.-Iraqi security agreement will be. Negotiations over the agreement have bogged down, but U.S. officials predicted Friday that it might now be completed by an end-of-July deadline.

Milestone for an icon: Mandela turns 90

CELEAN JACOBSON — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:40 CDT

Nelson Mandela sat beaming in a yellow armchair, his legs propped up on a large stool and covered with a pale yellow blanket. Ten grandchildren crowded around to serenade him with "Happy Birthday" and then smothered him with hugs and kisses.

The anti-apartheid icon celebrated his 90th birthday Friday with his family at his home in rural southeastern South Africa and the whole village turned out.

Elders in traditional dress came to pay their respects, sheep were trucked into the property and a troupe of bare-breasted young women sang and danced in preparation for Mandela's lunch with 500 dignitaries today.

He still found time to settle down to read a pile of newspapers, to keep up with local and international affairs.

Sounding and looking vigorous, Mandela told a small group of reporters he was fortunate to have reached 90, crediting his behavior for his longevity.

Special daisy isn't growing on Denver

DAN FROSCH — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:40 CDT

It was the sort of civic idea that nobody thought would cause problems.

Last April, in honor of this city's 150th anniversary, Mayor John Hickenlooper unveiled a newly cultivated daisy variety called the Denver Daisy. He promised to distribute free seeds throughout the city and vowed that Denver would be "awash in color" by the time the Democratic National Convention hit town in August.

But much to the consternation of citizen gardeners, the Denver Daisy apparently does not much like the city for which it is named.

The plight of the yellow flower was raised at a city meeting this week by municipal officials who said their own efforts to grow the flower had failed miserably.

"It's like having a cake, and you can't light the candles," said City Council member Charlie Brown. "I've been a gardener for 40 years, and all I've got is a bare spot."